I just read Art's post, "TV Alert - The Great Famine".

Interesting... in more ways than one.

Art posted that on 4-6.

On 4-7, I was driving home from Seattle and heard a brief bit on the radio news channel about some group that was soliciting clean plots of land that could be used for community gardens. I think they said they had found over 20, so far.

About 4-4, I received a letter from the USDA: "NASS [National Agricultural Statistics Service] is currently conducting a national survey to identify potential farming operations in the United States and to gather basic agricultural information." And they wanted to know if my single acre grew "...vegetables, has any fruit or nut trees, have cattle, horses, poultry, hogs, bees or aquaculture products..."

At first, I thought it was just a ploy to see if they could figure out a way to tax me a bit more. Then, after hearing the bit on the radio, and now seeing Art's post, it makes me wonder if something more ominous is afoot...

Nearly all our states are broke, the federal government is broke or close to it. Food prices are going up faster than the price of gas. I see more garden beds than even last year, more 6-cow, and 12-sheep suburban 'ranchers', more chickens. The media keeps emphasizing the rebounding of the Stock Market (easily manipulated, like it or not), but there are more empty houses and more vacant storefronts all the time, wherever I go on my job.

Is there a bigger, more worrisome picture developing here?

Our food production is highly centralized, in CA, the Midwest, eastern WA, etc. Virtually all of it is highly dependent on petroleum, for sowing, harvesting, processing and delivery.

Sue